blackburn49
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 | | 01/25/2008 10:36 AM |
| Posted By blackburn49 on 01/24/2008 1:10 PM Posted By Torby on 01/24/2008 7:23 AM
Those brass models are jewels, aren't they? I don't own one, just admire it from afar, or on the shelf.
I couldn't believe it when this model first came out! Who would have guessed something this close to the Chitina Auto-Railer would actually be made available--and by Aristocraft, for crying out loud !
I knew the moment I saw this one advertised that it was only a matter of time and I would have it here for this model. I suspect it will be quite the eye-catcher, too.
The auto-railer on the east bank of the Copper River near Chitina, 1942
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blackburn49
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| | 01/25/2008 10:50 AM |
| Referring back to my old map, you can see Chitina (red asterik) at the point where the CRNW headed east--aka the Chitina Local Branch of the CRNW Railway. In this map of a future which never was, the CRNW survived long enough to be tied into the AKRR by means of a route that was actually surveyed to Fairbanks.
The AKRR will be continued as far as Ft. Greely, south of Delta. Right now the AKRR ends at Eielson AFB, about 30 miles south of Fairbanks.
I am considering tying in the Phase I and Phase II lines, which will require over a hundred feet of additional rail in order to link the two up because of the vast difference in relative height of the two lines. Should that occur, I will power up the new model autorailer so I can run it between the two segments: Kennecott to Cicely.
The * * * is the location of Copper Center, which for our purposes becomes Cicely in this model. Although Chitina is a better representation of mythial Cicely, it is already represented as itself on the model. As you can see from viewing this map, it only makes sense at some point to tie the two together in the model. Phase I, the historic CRNW Railway, however, is nearly 3 feet above the Phase II line where it comes closest to Cicely.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/25/2008 11:06 AM |
| Chitina Auto-Railer on the Gilahina Trestle in the 1940s
A connection between the two model railroads may also mean that ultimately my model of this trestle will be moved from a point inside the bar to a protected area outside the bar where it will be more visible. Presently the model is largely masked by the Phase II workings which have had the effect of overwhelming the model.
And, of course, if the model is moved, it will enable me to re-create this rather neat historic image--a rather exciting prospect.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 4:45 PM |
| For those of you not familiar with this project, Phase II centers on the mythical town of Cicely from the television series "Northern Exposure," (NX) which first ran on CBS from 1991 until 1996.
Roslyn, Washington is the actual filming location for most of the outdoor shots for NX, and there is a lot of information on the net about Roslyn simply because most of that series was shot here. The studio shots were done in Redmond, which is why the interior of the Brick Tavern is not the same as the actual one in Roslyn.
I was talked into using this locality for modeling purposes right here on MLS some time ago. Although Cicely itself does not exist, many people who had not yet seen Alaska or may never visit the state have seen NX and thus in some way see Alaska through the eyes of the writers of that series. This is one of the most popular of this genre of television series of all time--and no one, to my knowledge, had ever attempted to incorporate it into a model railroad--at least not in large scale. It was to be a very exciting project, indeed.
Once I made the tentative decision to incorporate Cicely into the model, I spent many hours on the net gleening what I could to see if I had enough by this one source to re-create a credible model. It did become clear at some point that I would need to physically build the site, but there was in fact enough data, maps and images available for me to proceed.
Comparison Maps: My tentative layout (early 2007) and a map of the main filming area of Roslyn--side by side.
What is clear from the filming site map is that I could isolate the main area into something that was realistic to construct in large scale. I did not want to construct a model that was more than 12 feet wide nor 32 feet long. As it turned out, those parameters were just sufficient to include all the essential elements of Cicely
--to be continued--
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 5:18 PM |
| Roslyn as Cicely (1)
Although it was not too clear where some of the residences used in NX were located, specifically those for Maurice Minnifield, Maggie O'Connel and Ed Chigliak, information on the net seemed to indicate that these were all adjacent each other up the hill on this street (red arrow). I would be visiting these for a closer look.
Most everything else, though was located roughly between 1st and 2nd Streets centering on Pennsylvania Avenue, the main drag for Roslyn.
There was also one other interesting feature: that abandoned railbed going right through the town. The info on Roslyn clearly indicated that this had been turned into a hiking trail, but nevertheless there it was--a REAL railroad line going right through my chosen prototype.
The existence of a railroad in the series is only briefly alluded to in a couple of scenes, but since this is a railroad model, I would take the prototype and incorporate even more of that than I had originally intended in terms of features so I could credibly make use of an existing or historic rail line.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 01/27/2008 5:31 PM |
| Roslyn Aerial on disc:
I also ordered a disc with a complete aerial of Kittitas County so I could more closely study Roslyn from above.
Here I have outlined the main highway 903 (a country road) in blue. This is also First Street. The railroad grade is in red and the areas warranting closest study are boxed in purple. The smaller one is the residential area while the larger one centers on Pennsylvania Avenue.
This map was quite helpful to my study: click for a larger view.
One thing that was obvious is that the area around Roslyn was more settled than I had thought. This definitely does not resemble most Alaskan communities as seen from the air--far too much development.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 5:39 PM |
| The NX maps:
I had found two segments of the film studio map used to delineate their downtown area. This was also of some use,
mainly because it identified by name the important structures that would be used in the filming as well as providing
some of the dimensions--enough to determine the width of the faces of most of the structures.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 6:10 PM |
| NX Map of Pennsylvania Avenue
Thus I was able to better identify the target buildings and assign them some dimensions.
A is the Brick; B is the Northwestern Improvement Company which houses Minnifield Communications and KBHR Radio with Chris in the Morning;
C is Ruth-Ann's General Store and an adjacent shop which at the time was Pennsylvania Station Cafe;
D is a group of nearly-identical false-front frame structures, including Village Pizza, whose name appears every time at the beginning of the NX episodes;
E is Harper Lumber, which is still there; F is Roslyn's Cafe and the adjacent museum and G is the locastion of the Roslyn Brewery, which was not used in NX but
which I will use on this model. I also noticed for the first time by viewing these maps that there is a bank located at the corner of First and Pennsylvania. I have just the model structure for that one since I will not be using a copy of the prototype there. Not shown is Dr. Joel's Office, Ed's Theater and the residences.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 6:20 PM |
| Western Washington Railroads in 1928
Then I sent for a large map I found was available that shows the main lines of the time. This one,
which is clickable to a larger size, is a section I had scanned (it is very large) that shows the Great Northern (green),
the Northern Pacific (red) and the Milwaukee Road (orange)
I have highlighted in yellow the Roslyn-Cle Elum area. Cle Elum is on the mainline while Roslyn is on an NP coal shortline.
I wanted this map to better understand the relationship of these railroads to each other. Ultimately I would include all three of
the mainline railroads shown here in the model. The last of these was to be the Milwaukee Road.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 01/27/2008 6:43 PM |
| Detail of Above Map:
Even though the original plan called for me to model Cicely as Roslyn, it is important to me to understand
the relationships of the actual localities and the rail lines. This could very well affect what features I add to my own model and
how those features will appear on the model.
It was this map which first alerted me to the nearby existence of the Milwaukee Road which would ultimately become a very significant feature within my model.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 6:50 PM |
| Roslyn-Cle Elum Area:
In the same area as the previous map, here is the NP coal shortline and the wye which I added to the aerial map after
carefully studying it to determine the near-exact location of the original line. I would later walk the wye area.
Unfortunately, the NP station no longer exists. I could not even tell where it had been. All but a very small portion of the wye and all of the rest of the shortline heading off to Rosyln was pulled out in the early 1960s.
This image can be clicked to view the larger version.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 7:01 PM |
|
Back to Roslyn Shooting Scenes:
Find this map was a real bonanza for me. I keep referring back to it.
In this one I delineated the exact shooting areas, including the three residences which are
actually located some distance away from the downtown area. 17N is Maggie's house;
18N is Maurice Minnifield's big log home and 19N is Ed's upstairs apartment. They
are practically adjancent as it appears on this map. I will show you the pictures I took of them while up on that hill.
All of these houses will eventually appear on the model.
On the main block 1N is Dr. Joel's office; 2N is the Brick; 10N is Roslyn's Cafe.
7R is the fire station for Roslyn and 6R is the library. Although I will not be duplicating those since they do not appear in NX (except indirectly),
I will be placing brick models already made up to represent the fire station and city hall (the library) in the approximate relative location.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 7:13 PM |
| NP Coal Shortline:
I fully intend to use as much of the railroad heritage of Roslyn as possible in my model. The shortline, as you can see,
continued past Roslyn, servicing a group of coal mines that terminated somewhere near Lake Cle Elum--the same lake
which is used for many of the outdoor NX scenes, including the homesite for Joel's cabin and for Chris's Airstream trailer
(which I have a model of).
There was no obvious way from looking at the aerials for this train to turn around. However, it turns out that a former resident of
Roslyn (he grew up in nearby Cle Elum) spends his summer in a fishing camp on the nearby Klutina River. He told me that the NP used a
turn-table for this purpose. Thus, I had a reason to incorporate one into my own model town.
hr 
The 48 inch turntable pit is just outside of the main building in the same relative position where it would have been in Roslyn--just beyond the NW
part of the town.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 7:27 PM |
| NP Coal Line
The provisions for this line began to appear early in my plans. This one shows the turntable as well.
How far this line will be developed as a part of the overall scheme remains to be seen.
On this end, provisions will be made for a small model of one of the Roslyn coal mines just below
the residential hill, indicated by the orange boxed-in area at the lower right corner of the building. It
will have to be a relatively small one. The houses will be placed above the mine adit similar to the way
it would have been during the coal mining days at Roslyn.
One of the coal mines near Roslyn. You can even see the railroad loading shed below the tipple.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 8:37 PM |
| Why Roslyn for the NX filming?
It is said that one of the writers somehow came upon this town and upon viewing the false-fronted buildings
decided that this was the best location he had yet seen to film his series.
This is the scene as it would appear from Dr. Joel's office. I have added the labels.
As you can see, Roslyn's Cafe lies just beyond this group of two-story frame structures.
Looking east you can see a road heading up the hill. This is where those residences are located.
The third business in this group of three is Village Pizza. It still operates. Obviously, all of these
buildings would need to be included to make this model complete.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 8:52 PM |
| The Roslyn Cafe as "Roslyn's Cafe"
In order to be consistent with the NX story line, The Roslyn Cafe is Roslyn's Cafe in the series. They actually repainted the mural to reflect that. After all, Roslyn and Cicely were the two lesbian founders of Cicely--a part of the history that made the very straight Maurice Minnifield very uncomfortable. That special made up piece of history for a fictional town certainly added some intentional tension to the series.
I will probably use the version with the 's added.
Here it is with the adjacent museum.
This museum structure will be a part of the model as well.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 9:13 PM |
| Roslyn's Log Cabin
Adjacent the Roslyn museum is a small log cabin, said to be one of the original Roslyn structures. I have a model
of one almost like it which will be placed next to the museum model. Mine includes drying salmon strips (left) because, of course,
this would be an Indian cabin near a salmon spawning river.
You can just see a part of it in this photo of the back of the museum property. The underground coal cars will also become a
part of the model, naturally.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 9:24 PM |
| Roslyn Looking Down Pennsylvania Avenue:
This is the same scene used in NX in the opening views. Roslyn Cafe & the museum are on the immediate left.
Pennsylvania Avenue from the opposite direction:
By now the NX layout as it was filmed in the early 90s should begin to make some sense.
The intention is to make the model resemble the above scenes as much as possible.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 9:34 PM |
| The Roslyn Brewery
Across the street from the Roslyn Cafe is the Roslyn Brewery.
The one which exists today, while it fits in well with the existing architecture of wood frame structures,
is relatively new.
The old one was a brick & stone brewery in the old style:
This is similar to a style which already exists in g-scale, which is the one I will be using. I need this because I have elaborate
plans that need this kind of a setting--and I need a way to display all those beer reefers I have been collecting.
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blackburn49
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| | 01/27/2008 9:44 PM |
| The Roslyn Cicely Alaskan Brewery
Taken in 2006 in the CRD Bar: Click any of these for larger image.
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